The Growth and Popularity of Reggaeton Music

Did you know that in 2005, 4 albums out of Billboard's top 10 Latin Music albums were reggaeton and sales of Latin music albums in USA were up by 23%! And it is not just about 2005; reggaeton have made the music charts and music stores busy across the world, especially in Latin America, Spain, Italy and even in some Asian countries.

Though by nature it is a form of urban music, reggaeton only became popular in 1990s and appealed to a large section of Latin American youth. Critics and musicians term it almost as a new genre of music with clear influence from Jamaican music (reggae and dancehall) along with Hip Hop, Techno and House. Though reggaeton was clearly influenced by all those music genres, it has its specific beat and rhythm.

However, we must mention here that, to a high extent two traditional folk music genres (bomba and plena) from Puerto Rica may claim some their influence over the beat and rhythm of reggaeton.

Why reggaeton was such a huge hit in all those countries?

DJs in different clubs and RJs of different radio stations say that they get huge requests from the audience to play reggaeton - especially form the Latin community. We normally see such craziness with one or two super hit songs for a very short period of time. However, in this situation, people are in love with reggaeton - genre itself, rather than going after any particular song.

The answer of this question is somewhere there in the evolution of the genre. You can never ignore the voice and spirit of struggling working class in the development of reggaeton music. To add to this, you also get the tough and strong undertones, perhaps borrowed from hip hop. And what else can be a better punch than these to target the spirited youth of Latin America and other parts of the world. And it would not be wrong if we say that the rebellious nature of the lyrics accompanied by fast beats, it captured the youth faster than anything. As music critics say "the rhythm took them away". There is a common saying that parents don't love reggaeton (we should better say that the conservative section of the society dismissed it) and thus the youth enjoyed it to the full. The genre was made popular by the youth in different countries almost as an alternative to the traditional music. The popularity reggaeton music is so high that it is treated almost as the anthem of Puerto Rico's youth.

To some extent you may compare the popularity of reggaeton music with the popularity of the rap music that became the symbol or signature music of North American youth.